Quality of the universal postal service

The Quality Convention sets out the QSI and the respective levels of quality that CTT is bound to achieve annually. For each QSI a minimum level and a target level is established for quality of service.

The Quality Convention also establishes an indicator for overall quality of service (GI) ¹, which is calculated based on the levels of service quality achieved by CTT for the above QSIs.

In accordance with the Quality Convention, ICP-ANACOM shall monitor the QSIs of the provider of the universal postal service (CTT) on a quarterly basis. At the end of each year, ICP-ANACOM assesses the level of compliance with the established requirements.

By determination of 20 February 2008, after receiving the report of CTT with the overall results of measures implemented in 2007 by the operator in order to compensate users for failure to comply with certain QSIs in 2006, ICP-ANACOM concluded that the level of overall implementation of these actions in terms of value of benefits to users (which amounted to EUR 2,831,721.70), achieved the established objectives.

The Quality Convention sets out that "Should any force majeure or phenomenon situation take place, the burst and evolution of which are clearly outside the control of CTT, and have an impact on the quality of service provided by CTT, the latter may request, for the purpose of calculation of the quality of service indicators (QSI) comprised in [...] hereto, the deduction of the inputs for the concerned periods of time and geographic flows.".

ICP-ANACOM granted, by determination of 1 October 2008, the request made by CTT to deduct the records of priority mail and deliveries directly affected by general paralysis of the goods transporters which took place from 9 to 12 June 2008, on all national routes, with the exception of internal mail in each of the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, for purposes of calculating the QSI defined in the Convention. It is also specified that the cited deduction should be limited to items of priority mail and deliveries actually sent between 6 and 13 June 2008 inclusive, excluding items sent on other days of the year, regardless of the date of dispatch originally planned.

In 2008 it was found, by monitoring the corresponding QSIs that the target was reached for all QSIs, with the exception of QSI4 (regular mail not delivered within 15 working days), which nevertheless exceeded the minimum value. The GI recorded a value in excess of 100 (see Table 14).

Therefore, because the GI was over 100 and all QSIs outperformed the corresponding minimum value, no deduction was applied to the prices of reserved services in 2009.

^{Source: (a) CTT. (b) ICP-ANACOM Calculation.
Notes: D+X, means delivery up to X working day(s) after the deposit of the items at the mail reception point.
(i) Annual value corresponding to the average of November 2007 to October 2008.
RI - relative importance.
Min. - Minimum value.
Obj. - Target value.
N/A - Not applicable.}

It is noted that, even without the deduction of records of priority mail and deliveries, the conclusions would be the same, i.e. the QSIs would achieve their target value with the exception of QSI4, which would remain above the minimum value, and the GI would remain above 100.

Looking at Graph 40, it can be seen that the GI has positive values from 1997 to 2005, which trend was interrupted in 2003 and 2006 when the value dipped below 100 points.

Graph 40. Global Indicator of Quality of Service (GI)

(Click to enlarge image)

Paragraph 7 of article 8 of the Basic Law states that "the regulator will monitor, independently of the universal service provider, the levels of quality of service actually provided, with the results set out in a report published at least once a year".

In this context, by determination of 17 December 2008, approval was given to the report on the results of the monitoring carried out by ICP-ANACOM on the levels of quality of service offered by CTT in 2005, in which it was concluded that:

i. The recalculation of QSI1, QSI2, QSI4 and QSI5 corresponded to the value notified by CTT to ICP-ANACOM, whereas for QSI3 an insignificant difference was achieved relatively to the value notified by CTT to ICP-ANACOM;

ii. As regards QSI6, QSI 9 and QSI10, no situations have been found that question the validity of values notified by CTT to ICP-ANACOM.

iii. QSI7 and QSI8 were not monitored, as basic information for calculation is available only from the International Post Corporation, since the calculation of transit time for Intra-community Cross-border Mail is carried out using the UNEX independent measurement system (Unipost external monitoring system).

By determination of 13 November 2008, approval was given to the publication of reports relating to the results of the monitoring of the quality system of the universal postal service offered by CTT in the years 2006 and 2007, following the audit conducted of the QSIs and the company's complaints system, in which it was concluded that:

i. The validity of the values of QSI reported by CTT to ICP-ANACOM is assured, subject to the limitations identified in terms of the sample, points of improvement of the monitoring system and the values of IQS7 and IQS8 being calculated based on transit time for international mail calculated by the UNEX independent measurement system;

ii. There was no possibility of assuring the validity of the indicators on complaints reported by CTT to ICP-ANACOM, given that the procedures for classification and statistical processing of complaints revealed limitations with respect to the validation of their reliability.

Following the audit regarding the years 2006 and 2007, ICP-ANACOM issued several determinations and recommendations with a view to improving the quality of service and the complaints system of CTT, reiterating, at the same time, those issued in previous years.